The present disclosure relates to electronic communication. In particular, the present disclosure relates to managing nodes of a synchronous communication conference.
The popularity and use of video conferencing and other types of electronic communication have grown dramatically in recent years. Traditionally, video conferencing has been somewhat akin to audio conferencing, where participants communicate symmetrically by taking turns speaking, and thus facilitate discussion and negotiation of issues and reduce interruptions and distractions that may otherwise of occur if several participants were to converse in the video conference at the same time. In some cases, participants have muted their own audio and video signals so as not to accidentally interrupt to those actively conversing in the video conference or to prevent the other participants in the video conference from hearing or seeing what they are saying or doing.
Present implementations have been limited in providing a mechanism for participants to communicate asymmetrically during a video conference and allow groups of participants to interact privately or discuss different topics at the same time. For example, in a video conference between multiple parties, remote participants of one party wanting to privately discuss strategy or sensitive topics may be forced to leave the video conference in order to be able to discuss these matters in private. In another example, the participants of one party in a video conference may have to resort to using separate forms of communication, such as a separate conference call or email, to keep other participants from hearing and/or seeing their communications.